There is presently a recognized shortcoming in the art of cleaning and sterilization of surgical tools, instruments and implants. More specifically, there is no apparatus presently available which permits a surgeon to clean a tool, instrument or implant, while at the same time segregating materials that the tool, instrument or implant is in contact with for reuse during the same or a different procedure. For example, when a surgical instrument is used for resection of a patient's boney anatomy, it is desirable for the surgeon to clean the instrument periodically, and is also desirable for the surgeon to collect the small pieces of the patient's boney anatomy for reuse, such as in a bone fusion or fracture repair.
Given the complexities of surgical procedures and the various tools, instruments, implants and other devices used in the procedures, as well as the varying anatomical differentiation among patients, it is often challenging to provide a surgeon with the necessary tools that may be used and maintained as sterile throughout a particular procedure without crowding the operating room with trays of unused instruments. It is also difficult to provide a method and system for safely and efficiently cleaning the variety of different sized and shaped instruments during the procedure. It is therefore desirable to provide an apparatus capable of cleaning a wide variety of instruments in an operating room that is predictable and repeatable and does not obstruct the surgeon or other professionals present during the surgery, and that may otherwise be secured to one or more surfaces in the operating room, all the while maintaining sterility.
It would therefore be advantageous to provide apparatus suitable for use with a variety of instruments used in surgical procedures that is adapted and/or configured and/or capable of cleaning and/or sterilizing the instrument and segregating, cleaning and preparing material that the instrument has come into contact with during the surgical procedure for reuse. It would also be advantageous to provide an apparatus that reduces, if not eliminates, the problems and risks noted above. Other advantages over the prior art will become known upon review of the Summary and Detailed Description of the Invention and the appended claims.